Bobby Robson: The Newcastle fan who was misunderstood in Barcelona

Special Envoy to NewcastleHe never played for Newcastle United. And as a manager, he never won a single title with them. But at the entrance to the stadium where Barça will make their Champions League debut, you find a statue of him. "He's a legend. Do you know why? He was one of us," says Mark, a fan of the club. Bobby Robson, the man who coached Barça during difficult times, is one of the most respected names among the fans of Barça's first rival in the Champions League. "Robson was the son of miners. He worked as a miner. Almost everyone here has a relative who went down the mines. And he was a Newcastle fan, but played for other clubs. It made us in Newcastle angry to see how he succeeded as a manager always far from home. And when he finally came, he was already too old. There were doubts about him." Bobby Robson realized his dream of working at Newcastle in 1999, when he was offered a low salary to take charge of the team, then bottom of the Premier League. He accepted. And in the first match they already won 8-0 at Sheffield Wednesday. In the five years he managed the magpiesUntil 2004, he qualified the team twice for the Champions League.

Bobby Robson was one of the most respected figures in English football. He led the national team to the 1990 World Cup, when they came close to reaching the final. He led the modest Ipswich Town to a UEFA Cup victory and won titles with PSV Eindhoven, Porto, and Barça, with José Mourinho as his assistant. A journey that began in County Durham, south of Newcastle. A train ride of barely thirty minutes takes you to Durham, where you can still visit the majestic coal miners' union building, where strikes were organized. Robson's father sometimes took his son here to meetings. They lived in Langley Park, a small town about 30 minutes away, reached by a bus that moves slowly between hills and the remains of old mines.

This was one of the greatest mining regions in the world. In 2000, the last British coal mine closed here. Retired miners still meet at the old union hall in Durham. "Bobby Robson was a miner. When he was 15, he used to go down the mine. He was already a football player by then, and he supported Newcastle like a lot of people here. Durham is halfway between Newcastle and Sunderland. And you know, these teams hate each other. But the people of Durham preferred Newcastle for one simple reason: the 76-year-old mining train. "In Langley, the mine closed after an accident that killed 62 miners in the 1970s. The father was already retired, and Bobby was already famous. "He helped family members with money," he adds. Everyone has a story about Robson or his father, who went down the mines for 51 years.

Going down the mine

Bobby seemed destined for the same. "I don't know how deep we were. Between 600 and 900 meters, I suppose. I had to crawl the entire length of a football pitch on all fours, carrying tools through the tunnels. Like my father, he left home white and came back black," Robson recalled in his autobiography, claiming that he learned it in the mine. He always voted Labour and on occasion tried to take directors and players to the mines to see if they would learn something about solidarity and complain less. "When I was at Ipswich Town, I took the board to visit a pit in the South Derbyshire coalfield. They didn't like it. Then I tried to take the Newcastle players to a mine, but I only managed to take them to a museum," he said.

Football saved him from becoming a miner. He played for Langley Park Juniors, where at the age of 15 he played against 18-year-olds. He was discovered by a scout who recommended him to the manager of Fulham in London. The club's manager drove to Langley Park in 1950 and took him. Newcastle, which had sent an observer twice to see him, never made any offers. So Bobby moved from a mining town to an elegant London neighborhood, but without forgetting his roots. On his days off, he would return home and, at a dance at the Durham parish center, meet his future wife, Elsie. They were together for 54 years. Robson would triumph at Fulham and West Bromwich Albion, and would go on to win an international cap.

But his greatest achievements would come as a coach. Thus, in 1996, he was chosen to try to turn the page after Johan Cruyff. Robson, who arrived accompanied by a young assistant and translator named José Mourinho whom he had met in Portugal, suffered greatly. Barcelona fans were divided between admirers of Cruyff and defenders of President Núñez, and they made his life miserable. His style of play was discussed, although thanks to the Brazilian Ronaldo, many goals were scored. Barça won the European Cup Winners' Cup against PSG (1-0) and the Copa del Rey against Betis in an unforgettable final at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (3-2), a cup in which he led the epic comeback at the Camp Nou against Atlético Madrid with a late goal from Pizzi (5-4). Despite his sporting successes, Louis van Gaal was hired to manage Barça, taking advantage of the team's second-place finish in the league. Everyone spoke well of him as a person. It was said that he had been a gentleman and who could raise his voice more than once when he saw that his situation was being made. His case was unusual. He left the team, fed up with the internal wars within Barcelona. When he was on the bench, he was criticized. And once he left, everyone admitted that they liked that Englishman. He had fond memories of Sitges, where he kept returning. Of the Barça environment, not so much.

He lived the last years of his life on the outskirts of Newcastle, battling cancer. His last public appearance would be five days before his death: he was wheeled out in a wheelchair to take his bow before a match in the middle of the pitch. Robson asked to be buried in Langley Park Cemetery. At home. The grave only says "Sir Bobby Robson." No more is needed; everyone knows who he was.